ATTENTION ALL REPATRIATED RAFTERS WHO ARE VICTIMS OF HARASSMENT.
By Luis Ramon Hernandez, Cuba Free Press.

Villa Clara.- The Rafters Association of Peace, Democracy and Liberty
(RAPDAL) of North-Central Cuba, at Avenue 39, No.1603 between 16 and 18
streets in Caibarien, Villa Clara, hereby gives notice to all
repatriated rafters on the Island who are being persecuted or harassed to
get in touch with the group.

If a returned raft-rider is being physically or psychologically intimidated
or is suffering from such injustices as repetitive home searches,
confiscation of goods or loss of employment because of the rafter status,
the group's president, Margarito Broche Espinosa asks him or her to write to
the association with details about harassment and grievances.

The group's organizers say they need three copies of each letter which
should be typed or clearly hand-printed and should also include three
envelopes.

First deadline for responses is Feb. 24. The significance of this date is
that it is the fourth anniversary of the downing of two
Brothers-to-the-Rescue planes, when four pilots lost their lives.

The National Association of Rafters will present the letters to the United
States Interests' Office as well as to the U.S. Congress, which has three
Cuban-Americans as members of the House of Representatives.
The purpose of the presentation is to make the U.S. Congress aware of the
rafters' plight and the injustices to which they are being submitted. The
association notes that any government actions against ex-raft-riders
violates the migratory treaty between the United States and Cuba.

Before concluding its announcement, the group's organizers also asked the
government in Havana to "cease and desist the harassment and persecution of
the repatriated rafters in Cuba. We ask that it comply with the migratory
treaty." The treaty was signed by U.S. and Cuban representatives on May 5,
1995.

The organizers also said, "We ask Cuban authorities to honor the 30 Articles
of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights," according to its president,
Margarito Broche Espinosa,